Equal Pay and the Wage Gap

American women who work full-time, year-round are paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts.  We're working to reduce this wage gap and to ensure that male and female employees get equal pay and benefits for comparable work.  An important tool to combat this inequity is the Paycheck Fairness Act, a commonsense bill that would give workers stronger tools to combat wage discrimination, bar retaliation against workers for discussing salary information, and ensure full compensation for victims of gender-based pay discrimination.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Restoration Act (EEORA) is another important bill that addresses employment discrimination by removing the barriers that the Supreme Court erected in Wal-Mart v. Dukes to employees' rights to bring class-action suits under antidiscrimination laws.

Equal Pay Day 2013:

Learn More About the Wage Gap:

Learn More about the Equal Employment Opportunity Restoration Act:

Learn More About the Paycheck Fairness Act:

Learn more about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act:

 

 The Wage Gap, State by State Women are Not WorthLess Video
Families depend on women's wages more than ever. Read our fact sheets on the state-by-state wage gaps. Watch our Women are Not WorthLess video on the wage gap and be sure to share it with your friends!

Highlights

Fact Sheet | Wage Gap FAQs

October 5, 2012

The typical American woman who worked full time, year round was still paid only 77 cents for every
dollar paid to her male counterpart in 2011.1 For women of color, the gap was even larger. This fact sheet provides details about the wage gap measure that the Census and the National Women’s Law Center use, factors contributing to the wage gap, and how to shrink the gap.

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Fact Sheet | Closing the Wage Gap is Crucial for Women of Color and Their Families

April 2, 2013

American women who work full time, year round are paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. But the wage gap is even larger for many women of color working full time, year round, as African-American women are paid only 64 cents, and Hispanic women only 55 cents, for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. These gaps translate into a loss of $18,817 for African-American women and $23,298 for Hispanic women every year. Closing the wage gap is, therefore, particularly important for African-American and Hispanic women, who are already more likely to have lower incomes and to be in poverty than any other group.  This fact sheet explores the wage gap for women of color and the particular effect the gap has one them and their families.

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Fact Sheet | How the Paycheck Fairness Act Will Strengthen the Equal Pay Act

May 7, 2012

The Equal Pay Act (EPA) of 1963 made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work.  Yet today, women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.  The Paycheck Fairness Act would update and strengthen the EPA by improving rememdies for pay discrimination, prohibiting employer retaliation, and facilitating class action suits in equal pay claims, among other strategies.

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Fact Sheet | Sex Stereotypes: How They Hurt Women in the Workplace - and the Wallet

January 30, 2013

Today, women who work full time, year round are paid only 77 cents on average for every dollar paid to their male counterparts.  That’s shortchanging women and their families more than 10,000 dollars per year.  This wage gap—which hasn’t changed in a decade —occurs in part because of outdated stereotypes about women and their “proper” place in society and in the workforce. This fact sheet explains how these stereotypes contribute to women receiving lower pay for the same work, fewer promotions, fewer opportunities for advancement at work, fewer workforce training opportunities for higher-paying jobs, and being concentrated in low-paying positions in traditionally female fields. 

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More Resources

Fact Sheet | The Wage Gap By State for African-American Women

April 02, 2013
Families depend on women’s wages more than ever, but the typical woman working full time, year round is paid less than the typical full-time, year-round male worker in every state. For African-American women the wage gap is even larger than for women overall.  This fact sheet provides the state-by-state breakdown of the wage gap for African-American women across the United States.
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Legal Briefs & Testimony | National Women's Law Center Files Amicus Brief In Re Wells Fargo Bank

March 13, 2013

The National Women’s Law Center filed this amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to help explain why the court should deny Wells’ Fargo’s motion for a writ of mandamus in In Re Wells Fargo Bank.  The brief explains why the two-step approach for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective actions is crucial for collective actions under the Equal Pay Act (EPA), and the ways in which collective actions are central to achieving the purposes of the EPA and the FLSA by ensuring that workers receive information necessary to assert their rights.  

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| Women Overrepresented in Union Membership Decline

February 14, 2013
In 2012, the rate of union membership sunk to a new low since the Great Depression, and a decline in union membership for women drove this drop. This fact sheet explains why this is a cause for concern.
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Fact Sheet | Sex Stereotypes: How They Hurt Women in the Workplace - and the Wallet

January 30, 2013

Today, women who work full time, year round are paid only 77 cents on average for every dollar paid to their male counterparts.  That’s shortchanging women and their families more than 10,000 dollars per year.  This wage gap—which hasn’t changed in a decade —occurs in part because of outdated stereotypes about women and their “proper” place in society and in the workforce. This fact sheet explains how these stereotypes contribute to women receiving lower pay for the same work, fewer promotions, fewer opportunities for advancement at work, fewer workforce training opportunities for higher-paying jobs, and being concentrated in low-paying positions in traditionally female fields. 

 Read more...

Fact Sheet | Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk: An Important Case for Low-Wage Women Workers and the Future of the Fair Labor Standards Act

November 02, 2012

In October 2012, the Center filed an Amicus brief in Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk.  This fact sheet explains the case's importance and potential impact on low-wage women workers.

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